The Grove
by Empixie
Summary: Trapped in a remote woodland afflicted by snowstorms, deadly creatures and possibly worse things... the Winchesters and Cas must figure out the cause of all this evil and put a stop to it, before it's too late. (Set in between 10x14 and 10x15.) No slash, TFW/family/friendship, H/C, Cas whump. Rated T for horror/gore/violence
1. Blood Sports

When Dean said he was going to "sleep for about four days", what he meant was that he was tired and wanting to escape into a land of dreams. Maybe even hoping that somehow the issues would resolve themselves by the next morning.

Of course, nightmares were nothing new to Dean, but that didn't mean they got any easier.

…..

Dean's mark was fuelling his whole body, and he didn't even want to hold back. He was owning the power. The raw desire to kill was pumping in his veins. He welcomed this primitive, pure urge, as he darted through the trees, his footfalls crushing the snow beneath him.

He slowed down with deliberation, putting some distance between him and his victim, who wasn't far ahead. Dean was feeling the thrill of the chase, savouring the best part - the kill - till last.

He was already feeling the rush as he imagined watching the light go out in his prey's eyes, and couldn't help but grin with anticipation.

He paused for a minute to look at the ground and study his target's footprints. The snow was making it far too easy for Dean to follow his trail. The prints led him through some snowy undergrowth. Dean sniffed the air like a wolf, focused ahead. He stepped out into a clearing. There he was. On his knees out in the open, trying to catch his breath. Dean again felt his face stretch into a grin.

The other man slowly got to his feet, turning to him with wide, pleading eyes. Dean could sense he was hurting out of sentiment for Dean. He was after all Dean's closest friend once. And Dean remembered this man, everything they'd been through together... But still, Dean no longer held onto these feelings. And he didn't care. He felt so much more free. To him, Castiel was just game to hunt and nothing more.

The angel didn't try defending himself, even though Dean allowed him the opportunity to attack first.

With his old friend refusing to participate, Dean smashed his fist into the angel's jaw, knocking him down into the snow. He walked a few paces to where the dazed man was lying, and then slammed the toe of his boot into his stomach. But he didn't stop there. He kicked his chest next. Castiel tried shielding his chest with his arms, crying out for him to stop. But Dean simply kicked around them until he was satisfied by the crunching sound made by his ribs.

"Please..." the trench-coated figure choked. He still wouldn't fight back. He still _cared_ about him. It made Dean chuckled.

Using the same foot, he rolled Cas onto his back and then he pressed his boot down onto his ribs, hard. His victim spluttered as his already broken ribs were being crushed into his lungs. Dean leant in closer and slowly withdrew the blade he had been concealing in his jacket.

Wielding the blade felt so natural. It completed him. He allowed the angel's eyes to regard it one last time, showcasing it to him.

The next event was mostly a blur, as Dean was so high on primal pleasure. When he next regained lucidity, everything was still slowly spinning to a stop. He collected his senses. There was a bloodied mess before his eyes. flesh and ribs splayed out in a mangled mess. Slowly he dared his eyes to scan upward, and saw those wide blue eyes from before, now lifeless.

It was Castiel. And he was... And he had just done this to him... And the realisation of what he had done had cruelly come to dawn on him just at that moment. He had just murdered the best friend he'd ever had.

Dean wanted to scream, wanted to cry and wanted to vomit all at the same time. Yet he couldn't. There was no release. This curse would never let him. He looked at his right hand to notice it was still tightly clutching the handle of the blade. He loosened his hold of it, letting drop into the snow. He shakily brought both his hand to face. They were red with blood. Castiel's blood.

His feelings were about to erupt at that point, curse or no curse, and he couldn't hold back a scream. It was long and anguished and filled with pain, as if the mark wanted to punish him and give him his feelings back, just as quickly as it had taken them. Just to make him suffer this horrific loss. He felt his body tremor and he bowed his head and his eyes spilled tears. He was a monster.

Dean hadn't had such an intense nightmare in years. Not since hell...

But he wouldn't allow himself to believe that this was some sort of premonition. Not when he hadn't even killed Crowley yet – the first one on the list – according to Cain.

Not that psychic visions happened to him normally anyway.

It was probably just the next greatest worry on his mind, manifesting itself into a nightmare. Nothing new there.

Dean lay there a while, and breathed in a woody, musky smell, reminding him where he was.

With things going the way they were, he needed to protect Sam and Cas from himself. So he had retreated to a small cabin in a place he hoped they wouldn't be able to find him.

There was a case nearby too, which made this location all the more worthwhile.

White movement caught his eye and he glanced out of the small window. It was snowing and windy outside, and the sound of the howling wind filled the silence of the cabin.

* * *

The gold Lincoln Continental rumbled through the snow storm on a remote mountainous road in Gunnison, Colorado.

"He's close by," Cas said, with his hands on the wheel and eyes transfixed on the road. He had the window wipers on to help him to see what little he could. It seemed questionable to even be driving in this weather. Castiel's car was not even suited for the snow, but obviously they had not counted on the storm getting this bad.

"The storm's getting worse," Sam observed, looking out the windshield at the road. "How much further is it?"

"Not much further now." The angel replied, his face frowning in concentration.

About a minute later, Cas stopped the car at what seemed to Sam like a completely random spot on the side of the road.

"That way," the angel said. Sam tried to follow Castiel's gaze, but he seemed to be motioning towards some invisible area far off in the distance, or perhaps there was a track there, made invisible by the snow. Sam didn't know, but he tried to prepare himself for the cold that he knew he was about to step into once he got outside the car.

* * *

The door to the cabin flew open, and Dean was hit by the shockingly cold gale which blew in.

He shielded his face until he heard the door slam back shut again. When he removed his hands, his face fell.

"Crap..." he said. He'd been found. And much sooner than he could have expected. For standing by the door was Sam. And he looked less than pleased.

"How did you find me?" Dean asked, his face stern.

Sam gave his older brother a hard stare before replying. "Cas can pick up on your yearning."

 _Yearning_? thought Dean. He wouldn't have used that word himself, but he did suppose he had been _worried_ , ever since that stupid dream...

Sam began crossing out the angel warding, which Dean had strategically placed on the walls and door. And as soon as he crossed out the last sigil with a marker pen, he quickly opened the door for Castiel to step in. Dean had to crack a smile when he saw Cas' usually-faultless hair, damp and flattened down over his forehead.

The angel and his brother had caused a slush puddle by the door, where the snow was melting off them. Sam was thankful that Dean had made a nice fire in the fireplace he was sitting by.

Dean shook his head. "You two just can't stay away can you?"

Sam stepped closer, his face looking characteristically bitchy. "Well you can't just always run away and hide whenever it suits you."

Dean avoided their gazes. "I'm not just hiding here you know," he said. "There was a hunt in town." Sam sensed that Dean was trying to change the subject, but he let it slide for now.

In front of Dean on a coffee table was a newspaper, open on a headline, which read: 'Hedge Trimmer Murderer Shot to Death'. Sam glanced at the paper, but it was Cas who picked it up.

Dean continued on about the case; "Apparently, some guy ' _chainsaw massacred_ ' his neighbour with a hedge trimmer, right on their lovely suburbia front lawn. Oh and then, he was shot by the guy's wife."

"We know," Sam said. "We knew you were in town, but Cas couldn't find your exact location, so we checked out the local case, hoping you'd be on to it."

Cas put the paper back down and added: "We've already questioned Mr Dimmock's friends and family."

* * *

 _ **Three hours earlier**_

The spare FBI apparel Sam had been carrying in his duffel wasn't in the most immaculate condition, but it would have to do. And after he and Cas got togged up, they found themselves in front of the dead murderer's house.

Since it was the middle of winter in Colorado, snow was falling all around them, but this didn't hinder Sam from their task, much less Castiel.

They had caught the murder victim's wife just as she had returned from shopping. And as they approached her, she was still lifting bags of groceries out of the trunk of her car. She had rings around her eyes and Sam could already sense that her husband's sudden homicide-death was an unexpected shock when it happened.

Sam was the first to inquire. "Ma'am, could we just ask you some questions about your husband and the murder of your neighbour, Hugh?"

The woman didn't even give them a chance to ask where they could talk, she just started chuntering nonchalantly then and there.

"I still can't understand why he did it. He was a good person..." her voice was already starting to waver. At that moment, her twelve-year-old daughter opened the passenger car door and stepped out. At first Sam thought she was going to comfort her mother, but instead she stood facing away from them.

Mrs Dimmock continued, "...Obviously Monty was still upset about what happened to his friends, but other than that he was just his usual self. We were in the kitchen, then Monty just took one look at Hugh out of the kitchen window... Hugh was cutting his hedge, and Monty suddenly just left the house, walked right up to him, and grabbed the hedge cutter off him, and..."

She looked away, obviously struggling to hold back tears.

Sam gave a nod of understanding. "Thank you for your help Mrs Dimmock," he said.

But they all stopped in their tracks as the young daughter started crossing the quiet road by herself. The mother, Sam and Cas watched as the girl wandered right into their neighbour's front yard.

"What is she..." Mrs Dimmock trailed off.

There was a man in the yard, attending to his footpath, and using a spray can of sorts on some of the weeds. The girl approached, and grabbed the bottle from the man, who now looked slightly stunned back at her.

"Polly!" her mother warned her, and started to slowly jog across the road towards her and the neighbour. "I'm so sorry, she's usually no trouble..." she tried apologising. "Give that back, Polly!"

But Polly had other intentions, and just as Sam and Cas arrived to see what was going on, the young girl aimed the bottle at the neighbour and sprayed the herbicide into the man's face.

He screamed as the toxic chemical burned his eyes. Sam grabbed the kid and tried to seize the bottle, but she turned to her very left, and sprayed another dose at her own mother's face.

Mr's Dimmock reacted the same way as the man, and there were now two people screaming in pain palming their eyes. Sam and Cas really didn't need to draw this much attention to themselves, so Sam guided the victims towards the man's house. "Let's go inside..." he suggested. "We should rinse your eyes with water." He exchanged a nod with Cas; "Agent Murray is going to watch your daughter."

When the others went in the house, Cas felt very uncomfortable with being left with the little girl. There was something very disturbing about the way she simply stood there, facing away from him.

Cas presumed she wasn't even looking at anything at all. But a minute of silence with her was too awkward, even for Cas, and he decided to try to ask her a couple of questions. But all he could utter was a nervous "Um...", when the girl quickly turned to face him.

Then some kind of light began emitting from the girl's chest. The light became very bright, almost too bright for him to stand. And then something lunged towards him. Something coming from her.

Castiel braced himself for the attack, which was effectively like a pressure wave being cast against him. He strained to see the attacker's true form, and was taken aback sight of a peculiar woman composed of green, earthy tones and branches.

The spirit woman's eyes met his, before she rushed at Cas, and shoved into him, shoulder first, using such force, that the angel was almost knocked off his feet. She was preparing to attack again, but this time Cas was ready. He managed to return the attack by raising his hand, charging it with grace, and effectively casting her back.

The spirit seemed shocked, and in a second or so, vanished. But using his powers took an immediate toll on Castiel's body. He stumbled back, barely managing to remain on two feet.

His grace was getting lower by the day, which made fighting a struggle. He tried his best to stabilize himself. This needn't concern Sam or Dean. They already had more than enough to worry about.

The child's mother came outside, obviously noticing something was going on. She had a damp cloth held against her eyes, but was peeping over one side of it.

"Hello?" she said with uncertainty. "Is everything all right? I thought I heard something."

Sam's head peeped out of the door now, and had caught sight of Cas leaning slightly over and trying to catch his breath.

"E-Everything's fine, Ma'am." Sam informed her. "Just get back inside and take a seat until the ambulance gets here."

Sam exited the house and jogged towards Cas. Slowly, the girl seemed to be gathering some awareness, like she was coming round from a dose of anaesthetic. A good indicator, but also a familiar sign to Sam that she was recovering from a possession.

It was now that Castiel decided to begin questioning the girl. He picked his times...

"When your father killed his neighbour, were you an eye-witness?"

"N-No..." The girl, still overcome from that ordeal, was startled by Castiel's intimidating voice. "I was at school that day."

Mrs Dimmock interrupted. "Excuse me, but what has my daughter got to do with it?" She had ignored Sam's advice to stay at the house, and was no longer holding a cloth to her face. Her eyes still looked red and painful, and she kept blinking from irritation. The poor guy, who'd had it far worse, probably couldn't see well enough to walk around yet.

Castiel explained, "I'm just trying to link the violent actions shown by both your husband and your daughter-"

He was cut off by Sam, who loudly talked over him, "I-It doesn't matter about that, Ma'am, we're just trying to tie some loose ends. But we've troubled you enough. Thank you." He smiled. " _Agent_." he motioned to Cas, and guided the angel away before he could cause any more upsets. When Cas was facing the other way, Sam turned back around to the family and smiled at them, so that they wouldn't suspect anything was wrong.

As they got to the angel's car, they stopped to talk.

"I recognise that creature, Sam," the angel informed him. "It was a dryad. Specifically a hamadryad. They can-"

Sam interrupted him "What? Slow down! What creature?" Of course, Sam had missed everything while he was in that house.

"A dryad was possessing that young girl," Cas explained. "But..." he paused in thought, before continuing; "Possession is very uncharacteristic for these creatures."

Sam went silent as he considered what Cas had told him. He needed a moment to think. He got into the car's passenger seat as his brain tried to make sense of the information. Cas followed suit and got into the driver's seat. Sam's fingers tapped the dashboard, and he realised this called for some research. He turned around and reached to grab Castiel's laptop from the back seat. He quickly got to typing the word 'dryad' into the search engine.

With his expertise, he easily found a page about dryads in mythology, and read the information aloud:

" _'In Greek mythology, hamadryads protect_ _ed_ _trees and wildlife. They were so protective that they actually punished any mortals who harmed trees._ _'_ "

Cas seemed to acknowledge everything, and Sam read on. " ' _They are normally asleep during the winter months, because they're much more powerful when there is abundant plant life around their tree._ ' Huh..." Thought Sam, "I don't think she picked a good spot for herself then, this is Colorado..."

"Well a sacred tree can be millions of years old," Castiel informed. "So the climate wasn't always necessarily cold when the dryad first connected with it."

Sam closed the laptop and thought again. "So, this _sacred tree_..." he pondered, "Would we be able to find it? Would the dryad be going back to it so we can maybe talk to it?"

"Yes, actually dryads must return to their tree often, otherwise they die." The angel answered, matter-of-factly.

This was a relief to Sam, as it meant they had at least made a bit of progress. "Okay, so our next step is to find the tree. In like, a forest of trees..." He sighed, quickly realising that they may have bitten off more than they can chew. "Where do we even begin to look?" he asked.

"This town has a local forest, we should look there," Cas said bluntly.

Sam had a bad feeling. This plan was already sounding off the wall..."Well, maybe Dean's already on it," he hoped, glancing out of the window towards the house. "But we'd best get out of here before somebody calls the cops."

In agreement, Cas started the ignition, and they drove away as they heard the oncoming noise of ambulance sirens. Their priority was always to make sure that people were safe, but at this point, there was no need to stick around and deal with the extra hassle. The ambulance would take it from here.

* * *

 _ **Present time**_

Sam and Cas updated Dean on their findings, but Cas jumped in a lot, and seemed to gloss over the part about the dryad attacking him.

"The weather is truly strange," Castiel said, kind of offbeat to the rest of the conversation they'd just been having.

"You're telling me!" Dean agreed. "I should already be having a head start on this case, but I couldn't even get back onto the damn road!" He let his mind wander for a moment. "...Hope baby's okay out there..." he said, worrying about his beloved Impala.

Sam cleared his throat. "Moving on..." he said, snapping Dean out of his emotional thoughts.

"Oh right, yeah..." Dean gathered his wits together. "So the plan..."

The plan was of course, finding the sacred tree. Yes, as crazy as it sounded – they were actually going to search for a tree in a woods, in a blizzard...

Castiel was the most prepared to go. "Well, for you two, going out into that weather would be suicide. I'll go alone."

"No way!" Sam argued. "I saw you when that dryad attacked you. You're not strong enough to fight this thing alone!"

Dean suddenly jumped in "What? It attacked you?" He turned Cas by the shoulder, forcing him to look him in the eye. "What happened?"

"I'm fine," the angel said, the annoyance clear in his tone.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dean snapped back. He turned away, rubbing his aching forehead. "Damnit, you shouldn't have come here!"

"What?" Sam asked, confused.

Dean instantly recoiled with regret, and stared at the floor. "Nothing, never mind," he said, suddenly energised and grabbing his jacket. "So are we doing this thing or what?" Sam held his frown, burning it into the back of Dean's head, as he thought about what was going on with his brother, but he forced himself to shake it off again.

The torn feeling in Dean was growing progressively. He was so happy to see his brother and friend, but at the same time, that dark little voice in his head kept telling him he was endangering them, and that the more time he spent around them, the more he was going exactly down the wrong road. A road which would ultimately lead to... And that disturbing thought made Dean want to disappear into isolation like he'd planned to before. He even thought about abandoning them again at the next opportunity. Because as painful as it would be to have to betray them, it would be nothing compared to the alternative...

* * *

"All right, everybody got their weapons?" Dean asked, sounding like a dad making sure his kids had their lunch boxes and phones with them.

"Yep," Sam said, patting his pockets where he'd put his pistol, the demon knife and also an iron blade. Dean also carried a pistol and an iron knife. Cas was just carrying his usual angel blade.

This would probably fall under one of their more reckless missions. None of them knew exactly what they were up against, other than a dryad - which they found out could be killed with iron, - hence the iron knives. But Cas informed them that an angel blade would also suffice.

And if all that failed, they always had Castiel's smiting ability as their ultimate backup weapon.

The brothers didn't often take to dressing warmly, but today was a rare exception.

"Cas, there's another pair of gloves if you want them," Sam said, showing him the spare gloves on the table. "And a scarf too..."

But the angel declined. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't get cold."

Dean chuckled when he saw Sam wearing a beanie. Sam frowned at him and tossed a blue woolly hat at Dean. "You'll thank me later," he bitched. Dean was less inclined to be seen wearing a woolly hat; it just wasn't his style. But he knew he was going to need it once he was outside, and so he grudgingly put it on.

Once they had all their gear, Sam paused with his hand on the door handle. Before opening the door, he looked through its small frosted window, as if hoping to see a change. Dean and Cas followed Sam's gaze. But the white cascade of snow was unrelenting through each cabin window. Dean sighed. "This plan is crazy."

* * *

Nobody could argue with Dean's comment as they proceeded.

In Sam and Dean's experience, usually, having an angel on the force was a great advantage, however on this occasion, it was not. Even with Castiel's knowledge of the dryad, he apparently wasn't able to locate the tree, not even using his grace, which surprised them.

Cas said that using his grace outdoors rather than indoors, he had a better chance of locating the energy source of the tree. To do this, he apparently had to go into a deep meditative state. But each time he tried this, he kept getting too low on power.

When he made his fifth attempt, Dean and Sam had to catch him from almost collapsing in the snow.

"That's enough," Dean said, as he and Sam supported him. "Are you okay?"

Castiel never knew when to give up. He no doubt would have kept trying to the point of passing out, had they not insisted on him stopping.

"I'm sorry," the angel apologised. "The storm must be interfering with the connection."

"You sure you're okay?" Dean asked, with growing concern. Cas was for sure hiding something.

The angel managed to gather himself. "I'm fine," he said.

Sam was already having second thoughts about their plan. "Cas, maybe this was a bad idea. You're obviously not strong enough."

"I'm fine," Cas repeated. "We'll just have to find the tree by eye."

"Fun times," Joked Dean.

Sam, Dean and Cas wondered through the snow storm for what seemed like hours, and Cas had approached many different trees, a countless number of times. Each time placing his hand on the trunk of the tree, feeling its energy. And once again, he removed his palm from the tree and shook his head. Then they moved on, trudging further through the blinding snowstorm. It was enough to make any human being feel disorientated. And Sam and Dean hoped that once this hunt was finally over, Castiel would still know the way back.

The cold was becoming more and more unbearable. Sam and Dean were walking side-by-side with Cas a little further ahead. Dean grumbled to himself when he lost sight of Cas' tan trench coat again. Their friend was walking too fast for his liking. Every once in a while he would get too far ahead and they would have to jog to catch up with him again. Their fingertips and toes had long since gone numb. In fact they were both thinking of giving up, but they knew that Cas wasn't going to take no for an answer. Besides, with the way things were looking, there was very real possibility of getting lost, which meant they were better off together. And so the Winchesters stuck by Cas.

But then things began to turn even worse, as the snow storm suddenly started blasting even more severely.

In an instinctive reaction, Sam had quickly curled his face down into his scarf. He noticed Dean was doing the same. It was near-impossible to see anything, peering through their scarves at nothing but a blinding white force of cold wind and snow. They actually had to grab onto each other's jackets so that they wouldn't lose one another, even shielding their faces with their free arms.

They had lost sight of their friend. And that was the final straw. "Cas!" Dean tried to shout above the wind. They kept walking. Dean's grasp on Sam's arm was so tight it was almost painful. He kept calling, and so did Sam. Then finally...

"Sam! Dean!" a familiar voice called back accompanied by Cas rushing into view.

Signing with relief, Dean reached out with his free hand, grabbing Cas' arm. He was going to make sure they weren't losing him again.

It was a struggle, even to communicate, and they could barely hear one another. But they managed by using gestures and hand signals, and finally, but not all too surprisingly, they were all in agreement about turning back to the cabin.

So they turned back the other way, pushing forward, fighting, but Sam and Dean couldn't even make sense of how far they had left to travel. Castiel had a better intuition, but even he was struggling. The blizzard was affecting him more than it should have. Sam and Dean hoped his powers would hold out long enough to at least get them back to the cabin.

More time passed. The distance between them and the cabin seemed endless. They couldn't even see where they were going, and were blindly bumping into trees and branches all too often. Cas seemed to be able to see better than them and was in the lead. He was still struggling far too much by angel standards though, and in fact he found himself wishing more than ever for his wings.

The bellowing cold air almost muted their movements as they surged onwards. But for a moment, Dean thought he heard something else.

"Did you hear something?" He shouted to Sam and Cas. They kept moving but Sam tried to listen very hard. There was nothing to make out this time. Dean shook it off. It must have been the wind.

But a moment later, he heard it again, and this time he was sure he heard it. It was hard to tell, but to his ears, it was some sort of a shrill screaming noise. Then again, perhaps he'd gotten a case of the wind chill and he was becoming delusional.

But then Sam was startled too, as the noise struck again, a little louder this time. Cas had also heard it, and now all three of them had stopped to listen.

The shrieking noises were still indecipherable. The closest Dean could liken them to would be some sort of a bird.

"What is that?" Sam pointed and yelled. He had caught a glimpse of something in the sky.

Dean grabbed onto Sam and Cas more tightly. "What did you see?" he shouted back.

Sure enough, there was something out there. And the raptor-like noises were terrifyingly close now.

Their eyes caught sudden glimpses of something. Some sort of flapping, feathery creature, flying between the trees.

Sensing danger, Dean and Sam took out their pistols and Cas drew his blade.

Suddenly, Sam jumped as something with a very strong grip clamped his shoulder. The ugly clawed foot was tugging Sam backward, sinking its claws into his shoulder. Sam turned and tried to bat it away with the butt of his gun. Dean aimed his pistol, but this terrible storm meant there was a high risk of missing it and shooting Sam. Luckily, Sam managed to punch the creature in the gut. The thing squawked and in reflex tore a long strip of fabric from Sam's sleeve. It let Sam go, instead turning to attack Dean. Amongst the feathers and clawed feet, Dean saw a feathery head with some human features mixed in.

"The hell are you?" the hunter asked in disgust.

It responded only by shrieking, and Dean got his iron knife and slashed the air in front of him, struggling to aim at the creature. When Sam and Cas took part in the attack, it backed further away.

The monster apparently had no trouble seeing in the blizzard, and was making good use of this camouflage to ambush them again and again. It kept utilizing those huge vulture-like feet to grab and tear at them.

It was attacking them in turns, and its claws were brutal when they met skin. Castiel had been unfortunate enough to get a claw to the face.

Somehow, the three of them gathered together and managed to get into a good defence position, all facing outwards with their weapons readied. The monster continued to swoop and snap at them, and they seemed to be having no success in scaring it off.

By now they were all littered with cuts and scratches. This foe, coupled with the turbo-blizzard was more than they had bargained for.

Sam, who had half of his sleeve dangling off his left arm was once again targeted, and the bird's big clawed feet pulled at the loose fabric, and clawed where there was only thin fabric left protecting him. And eventually it had managed to slash Sam's exposed arm. The hunter cradled his bleeding limb, but the creature used the opportunity to ram into him, knocking him down.

It then began swooping down towards the injured man, but Dean fired his pistol at it. "Bitch!" he screamed. The bird changed its mind and hesitated in the air a while longer. Then Dean caught a glimpse of Cas, his face streaked with blood. The fact that he had been bleeding for this long was worrying.

The angel tried to help Sam up, as Dean fired more bullets at where he'd last seen the creature disappear.

There was a long moment of nothing happening. Sam still cradled his left arm, and held his knife in the same hand. They searched the snow-filled sky, trying to see, and held their weapons aimed and readied.

Perhaps Dean had killed it with one of those shots, but there was no body. No indication that it was dead. But this creature seemed clever. And the likelier possibility was that it was just waiting for another good opportunity to attack. So they all remained vigilant.

"Is it coming back?" asked Dean.

"It might," replied Cas.

Cas was right. It did ambush again. This time going for Dean. Dean couldn't get a steady aim as it torpedoed at him, its claws outstretched.

"Dean, lookout!" Sam shouted. There wasn't much he could do in time, but Cas had somehow made a dash between Dean and the creature, and pushed Dean out of the way. The hunter landed on his face, but quickly jumped back on his feet, spitting snow from his mouth.

He gathered the knife he'd dropped, just in time to see the creature yank Castiel off his feet. _Damn, that thing is strong..._ Sam was attempting to stab it, but the bird was lifting Cas further into the air. Dean had the option to shoot it, but he just couldn't risk hitting Castiel, with his grace as weak as it was.

And with another horrid shriek, the bird took Castiel away, letting them both be swallowed up by the blizzard.

Sam and Dean were left screaming at the top of their lungs. "Cas?!" But the only response they got was the bellowing of the wind.

* * *

A/N: Just a quick forewarning; it gets much darker in the next chapter. :)


	2. Biome

With dispirited hearts, Sam and Dean were forced to keep moving forwards without Cas. They decided to name the thing that took him a "harpy", since it bared a resemblance to the mythological monster. (Though they were in agreement that "bitch" was also suitable.)

"We're going to find him," Sam reassured his brother. But he was trying to reassure himself just as much.

Dean seemed to stew silently, uttering a curse once every so often. "That bitch is gonna pay!" he growled into his scarf. If only he'd picked a different case... one much further away...

"Dean..." A sigh came from the tall man. "Look... this isn't your fault."

Dean should have anticipated Sam's attempt to hearten the situation. But now was not the time for it. Too many mixed emotions. Too many confusing options for who or what was to blame. So he gave no response.

Sam took a deep breath, there was another main concern that plagued him. But he didn't even dare ask. How were they going to find the tree now without Cas?

The storm even made it near-impossible to think. Sam blinked, trying to clear his vision, but the storm was so disorientating, that the trees started swimming around him and even changing their shapes. It made him feel tired, and he had a compelling urge to lie down, but he knew that would be a very bad idea.

Dean must have noticed something was wrong with him, because Sam felt his hand on his shoulder, and could hear him yelling "Hey, Sam! You okay?" The weird thing was, that when he tried to look at Dean, he couldn't even see him. He saw nothing but trees, ever moving, growing and shrinking in a tornado around him. Sam buried his face in his gloved hands and screamed.

"Sam!" Dean was shouting at the top of his lungs at his brother, who seemed to be having a mental breakdown of some sort, hunched over and burying his head.

Then, as if by miracle, there was something up ahead. The view of open sky, and finally, less trees. Dean had to double-take in case he was just going crazy, but it was still there, and this gave him a spark of hope. So he yanked Sam towards what finally looked like a way out of the forest.

As they got closer, Dean realised that they were indeed at the edge of the trees now. And that they were also out of the blizzard. Dean looked back, to see that behind them, the blizzard was still raging on in the trees in the distance. "Weird."

But the ground here seemed to be cut off to a vast, dark chasm. Dean couldn't see any way across, except for a single fallen tree. On the other side, appeared to be more trees and a rock face, but the sky looked clear. And the rock face wasn't too high and appeared climbable. "Well, this looks promising," Dean sighed.

"Sam?" Dean shook his brother. "You can open your eyes now, we're safe for now, I think... Sam?"

Sam murmured something and uncurled himself slightly, but he was still acting really weird and out of it, so Dean sat him down against a nearby rock. "Hey, what's going on with you?" Dean was getting more worried. He cupped Sam's face in his hands. He appeared to be losing consciousness. _Damnit, Sam_ _..._ Dean thought, as Sam slumped against the rock, drifting off to sleep.

Letting Sam sleep, Dean looked over to the tree bridge, contemplating what to do next. In his head, he came up with three options.

Option one was to take a nap with Sam; (and that one was truly tempting, because he was seriously tired!)

Option two was to go across the tree bridge without Sam and hopefully find help, or a road, or a way out or something.

And the third option was to stay awake and guard Sam, making sure that no more creepy feathery-assed bitches got them.

And there was no option four, because according to Dean, going into that forest was definitely not an option.

So, the third option seemed like the most sensible. Stay awake and keep a lookout for monsters. But what if something was seriously wrong with Sam? What if he needed a doctor? Dean knew a few things about first aid, and he knew that passing out was generally not a good thing.

Hmm. Option one was a bit risky. Taking a nap, when there are creatures out there. And with no one to watch out for them?

So again, it came back to going across the tree. But then Dean would be worried about Sam. Then again, maybe if he didn't find help, he'd end up with much more to worry about... It was a tricky situation.

Dean was crouched next to Sam, continually checking on him. He was till stuck on his decision on what to do, when he heard a loud, raw scream, over in the distance across the rock face.

Startled, he jumped to his feet, gun in check.

But at the same time his heart sank. There was no doubt who the scream had belonged to; "Cas..." he said under his breath.

Feeling torn seemed to be a running theme with Dean. But he needed to make a decision, fast. And that scream seemed to settle it for him. He was going to save Cas.

Sam and Cas would have both told Dean that this was a reckless and foolish decision, and Dean knew it, but there was an impulsive streak in Dean that kicked in whenever it came to somebody close to him in danger. And had there been anyone conscious around who could persuade him to change his mind, it wouldn't have worked anyway. So Dean prepared to make his way across the haphazardly fallen tree.

Dean focused on trying to get to Cas, but admittedly, his heart raced as he climbed onto the end of the tree. Once on top, he got to his feet very slowly. The tree was wide enough to walk on if he minded his balance well. He walked the length of the tree, which was at least twice his height, and was thankful when he made it safety on the other side. He peered back down into the endless chasm as his heart regained its rhythm. He took one last look across to Sam's tiny sleeping form on the other side, and then turned toward the rock face.

Using the gaps for footing and heaving himself up by his arms, Dean had finally made it up the forty foot rock wall. Catching his breath back, Dean rolled behind a nearby tree, in case there were enemies around. After a minute, he sat up and peeked behind the tree, drawing his gun as a precaution.

Dean wasn't really sure what he was looking at. He assumed he was by the edge of another forest, but something was very wrong with the plants and trees. He was even forced to quickly recoil from the tree he was leaning on, when he realised there was faint movement to it. The barks on the trees everywhere were plagued by writhing flesh, and there were various decomposing flesh-like textures in the environment. He looked down below the rocks he was on, and noticed some sort of a clearing. There were frightening expanses of fleshy organisms growing all around it. Or was it all one organism? Dean didn't know. But he tried to contain the bile rising up in his stomach, and tried to find a path down to the clearing.

Stepping onto the path, Dean was met with the sight of several rotting carcasses on the ground, and scattered among the rocks. As he got closer to the clearing, there was an eerie red glow, and he couldn't place where it was coming from. The disgusting trees here were morphed together at the crowns to create a repulsive ceiling of flesh, which dripped blood in places. One of the trees had a fleshy bundle attached to it. Dean crept towards it cautiously. The bundle was moving sluggishly as though it was breathing. A head of dark hair was protruding from the top of it, hanging limply.

"Oh god, please don't let it be..." Dean worried. But when he got right up to the body attached to the tree, his heart skipped a beat as he found out his suspicions were correct.

"Cas?" Dean whimpered, and he held his friend's face in his hands. His face was still streaked with blood from the harpy attack. He didn't wake up. And Dean couldn't even tell whether he was still breathing. He checked his neck for a pulse, and to his relief there was a very feint rhythm. Dean then began by taking his knife and stabbing at the fleshy tendril-like things that were securing Cas to the tree. The things slid around, trying to avoid the blade, making Cas' unconscious body look like it was wriggling. Dean managed to make some of them bleed as he cut them, and they made quiet shrieking noises. They were freakishly tough however, and every time Dean thought he'd managed to hack a good section free, it was quickly replaced by new growth. Soon with all the slashing, there was blood pouring onto the ground and soaking his own skin and clothes. He didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

"Damnit!" The hunter cursed, furiously.

There was a feint rustling behind him. Dean turned on his heels, aiming his gun and guarding Cas. He saw a dark figure. Dean fired a shot, but the gun in his hands disintegrated like dust. The shadow figure approached him. Then everything went black.

* * *

Sam was falling deeper with every exhale. Soothed as though under a spell by a distant lullaby. Until slowly, every sound melted into a peaceful silence.

When he opened his eyes, his face was cushioned by soft earth and leaves. He felt much warmer and all was quiet, save for a faint blustering sound, like a storm that was far away. As Sam regained more awareness, he realised he was on the forest floor, and he sat up slowly, staring in disbelief at his surroundings.

He called for his brother, but there was no answer. He seemed to be alone.

He had been lying at the bottom of a huge tree. And as he looked around, he noticed that beyond the tree, the blizzard still raged on, the noise of the wind almost muted out. It appeared that there was an invisible spherical field surrounding this tree where Sam stood, blocking out the storm like a reverse snow globe.

Sam poked his arm through the 'globe', and it was instantly exposed to the cold blizzard, so he retrieved it, staring in amazement and shaking off the snow.

Sam also discovered he had in fact been lying in a dried up river bed, and it was quite peculiar the way it narrowed and disappeared underneath the tree, between its outstretched roots.

Sam's eyes followed the trunk of the tree upwards, and what he found next astounded him even more.

The bark was inscribed with some runic-looking symbols. But centring these writings was a crudely chipped eye. The carvings were oozing with a thick red liquid, which oozed from the eye like bloody tears.

 _This must be it..._ It was the weirdest tree he'd seen in his whole life. And now that he thought about it, it was even an odd species for its location. All around it were trees that were characteristic of Colorado; such as Pine, Spruce and Fir. But this tree, which apparently bled, looked like some sort of an Oak, and not even a species of Oak he recognised.

Sam tried to remember what Cas had said about the Dryad. The whole reason of finding the tree was to kill the creature. So he pulled the knife out from inside his jacket.

"C'mon! Show yourself!" Sam screamed.

He took the demon knife and jabbed it in into one of the cuts on the bark.

"Don't!" Sam turned in surprise at the faint female voice. There stood a woman whose body was mostly composed of greenery and branches. What little bare skin was showing, was pale, with green veins faintly visible beneath it. She appeared to float through the air and her face showed little expression.

"Are you the dryad?" Sam asked, holding the knife before himself, defensively. She slowly nodded. "I'm Madeina."

Sam couldn't help but feel angry for all that had happened because of her. He didn't quite know where to begin with her. "Why are you killing people?" he growled. But the dryad Madeina stared solemnly at Sam, and didn't respond.

The hunter pointed the knife at her. "Answer me!" he threatened. Although he guessed that this knife wouldn't work on her, he hoped that she didn't know that.

When she finally spoke again, her voice was very soft. "I haven't done anything wrong. I'm a hamadryad; I protect nature."

"Is that why you possessed those innocent people?" Sam spat, his anger rising.

The tree spirit didn't seem to be afraid of Sam, but as yet, she hadn't tried to attack. "My tree was inflicted with evil," she said, he voice close to a whisper. As she said this, her eyes motioned towards the markings on the tree.

"This spell allowed him to cast me away..."

Sam knotted his eyebrows. There was someone else involved? Was she lying? " _Who_ cast you away?" he questioned.

But the dryad ignored Sam's question. "I was lost, disconnected from my tree," she explained. "The tainting of the sacred water made me lose control and I found myself possessing people and punishing others."

"Sacred water?" Sam asked, puzzled. Maybe that was what was once flowing in the riverbed... "Wait... who caused all of this?" Again, the dryad wouldn't name any names, and fell silent. Sam tried a different perspective. "Do you know how to stop this?"

"If I can get the remaining water back," Madeina whispered, "then I may be able to break the spell."

 _The remaining water..._ Sam thought. He took a step closer to the dryad, hoping to get more answers out of her. "Look, something took my friend. Do you know where it could've taken him?"

"There is a lair, on the other side of those rocks," came her quiet reply. Sam looked around to find any indication of what she was talking about, but outside of the little bubble he was in, there was nothing but the same blizzard and trees. Sam turned back towards her, about to question her again, but she was already gone.

* * *

Sam's eyes snapped open, and he looked about himself, realising he'd fallen asleep somewhere. He wondered whether what he'd just seen had been real, or just some very vivid dream. The sacred tree from the dream wasn't there any more. Was this even the same place?

He suddenly remembered his injured arm and instinctively nursed it, expecting the same pain from before, only to be taken back by surprise. There was no pain at all. And he checked it to find it was completely unscathed. Even the sleeve was good as new.

Sam got up, investigating the edge of the clearing, and noting where the blizzard stopped at the edge of the forest. He had no recollection of how he'd got here.

And worryingly, there was also no sign of Dean.

Soon, he found where the land just stopped and there was a tree bridge across the chasm. He took note of the rocks on the other side, and wondered if that was what the dryad had meant. If so, then that was the place he needed to get to.

The determined hunter was across the bridge in no time, taking large but carefully-aimed strides. After that he began scaling the rock wall. At the final heave to the top, Sam drew his gun, almost shooting the fleshy looking tree, thinking it was going to attack him. But the only thing it threatened to do was to make him want to vomit. Unfortunately for him, he soon found out the things were thriving here.

Trying to ignore it at much as possible, he wandered on through the mysterious surroundings. The sky was dark and grey, yet there was an eerie reddish glow, allowing him to see where he was.

Finding a clear path was becoming difficult, as there was a thick mist enveloping the part he was in now. And he soon found he was walking among several decaying carcasses, lying forgotten below it.

Sam kept walking along the high outcrop of rocks, until he came across an odd clearing in the fog below him. It was the closest thing to a "lair" he'd come across so far. He carefully crept closer to it, reluctantly having to keep close to the revolting trees in order to stay hidden.

Somewhere below, he could hear the familiar squawking of a harpy. No, several at once this time. All cawing down from the trees like vultures. Hearing them made him nervous.

He crouched in further behind some strange shrub, which had a thin, veiny skin stretching between its branches, and hoped that this would be enough to hide him from view.

Being very careful, Sam spied down into the trees. The harpies were perching in the intestinal-looking branches surrounding the overhanging clearing. They seemed to be waiting for something.

Inside the circle of trees, it was cleared of snow. And attached to two of the trees at the edge, appeared to be two forms, cocooned tightly by some weird fleshy, living growths. Only the heads of these poor souls were free. Inching as close as he dared, Sam could see now, within one of them was definitely Dean, his head flopping down. _Just unconscious_ , he hoped. He looked at the second, also unmoving figure, a few feet further away; and could only assume it was Castiel.

Sam could once again feel bile rising in his stomach. He'd seen some disturbing things in his time, but he was definitely going to be losing some sleep over this one.

After a moment, the harpies started cawing, as a figure emerged from the bushes. It seemed the harpies were welcoming whoever this person was.

Sam kept watching, as a bearded man emerged from the fog. He was dressed in a sharp suit and tie, with brown hair tied back into a ponytail. An insane contrast to his distasteful surroundings. His face held an eerie blank gaze.

Luckily, the man didn't seem to notice Sam, as he made his way slowly towards Cas and Dean's unmoving forms inside their horrible fleshy prisons.

The man approached Cas first. Sam strained to get a clear view, and he could have sworn he saw something glimmering around the man's neck. _A necklace maybe?_

The man peered at Cas' limply-hanging head with a strange curiosity, like he was looking at some captured alien. He reached out with his hands, cupping Cas' bloodied face, his fingers canvassing his features like a blind man would learn a person's face.

Cas picked that moment to start regaining consciousness, meeting the strange man's cold gaze. Sam sighed with relief at the knowledge that Cas was at least alive.

The man examining Cas must have been sightless, Sam guessed, as he was still gazing deadly ahead, not meeting the angel's eyes.

Reaching full awareness now, Cas started to struggle in his bonds, and then noticing Dean, he called out to him, but to no avail, before turning furiously at the newcomer. "What is this? Who are you?"

The man was silent as he took the strange object around his neck, holding it in his fingers.

He spoke very distantly. "Is this what you were looking for?" he said. He was wearing a glass vial, filled with a clear liquid. But Cas said nothing.

Behind the bush, Sam put a hand over his mouth. Was this the vial of sacred water the dryad was talking about?

The blind man huffed out a quiet laugh. "By the way, you may call me Hod," he added.

Cas gave up struggling, but twitched and winced from time to time, as though the binds were hurting him, keeping him in check.

"Hod..." Cas rasped out. "As in 'Hodur', the god of darkness and winter."

 _The blind god..._ thought Sam. _Well, that_ _c_ _ould_ _also_ _explain the blizzard..._

The trapped angel started taking in his surroundings as much as his restrictive position would allow. He then spotted the horrid birds up in the branches. "You're working together with the harpies?" he said angrily.

"They have a great eye for prey," Hod said, still intensely palming at the angel, now moving his hands all over his torso. "And after the sacrifices are over, they get to eat what's left. It's a great partnership."

Cas flinched sharply again and spoke though his teeth. "No! You've corrupted this whole forest. And you had those innocent people possessed!"

At that, Hod simply chuckled, and his head seemed to slowly lean to the side. It looked very creepy from where Sam was sitting. And the man pressed his palms down to Cas' bound chest, as though trying to detect something.

Cas swallowed, glancing at Dean. "What do you want from us?"

"Nothing... from you..." Hod answered, quietly. "You're not human..." He paused, his words trailing off. The fleshy binds quivering beneath his palms. "This place doesn't want you."

Cas shifted nervously, suddenly worried. "What are you talking about?"

Just then Dean stirred and made a grunting sound, but didn't wake.

Hod rose to his feet and stepped back from Cas, who could feel something happening to the thing enveloping him. It started stretching its tendons and ligaments and very slowly began receding from his body.

Hod made no expression as he addressed the looming harpies, perched up in the branches. "At first I would have disapproved of you for bringing me a soulless seraph," he lectured. "But now I see that this being was a lure for this human." He motioned towards Dean. "Good work." He praised his subordinates. The harpies seemed to squawk back in thanks.

The living binds that held Cas were still slipping free and receding back into the earth and various foggy, shadowy corners of the forest. Cas had managed to free one arm, when Hod spoke to him again.

"You should run," he said with no emotion. "You can't fight them."

Cas somehow got to his feet, faster than Hod could predict, and he grabbed Hod's necklace. Hod growled as the vial broke free of his neck, and he furiously pawed at Cas, trying to retrieve it.

But Hod soon gave up, when a scream sounded from somewhere in the trees. The noise was a blend of anguished male and female voices. And for the first time since he'd met him, the god looked frightened. And then he vanished.

Even the harpies cawed loudly and scattered like startled crows.

Cas pocketed the vial, and eyed the trees before rushing to Dean. The angel hastily tore at the fleshy tendons enveloping his friend, but they were too strong. He needed to use his blade, but he found himself without it. Then he heard that horrendous groan again from the trees. It was getting closer.

Cas almost jumped out of his skin, as a figure leaped in through the fog. But he sighed with relief when he saw a familiar face.

"It's just me!" Sam reassured, as he tried to help Cas free Dean, using the knife he carried.

But their efforts were futile, as the pulsating, living mass only seemed to be sucking the unconscious hunter in even deeper.

"No!" Cas shouted. He was exhausted from this whole ordeal, but he still wouldn't give up trying to save Dean.

It was then, that Sam realised that one of Cas' feet was still caught on something. And he turned to try and help him, but the fleshy tendril had itself wrapped around the angel's ankle so tightly, that they both struggled to pull him free.

A screaming sound was heard again, but this time it sounded like it was coming from above their heads.

Sam gave up on Cas for the moment, to continue trying to free his brother. His forehead was covered in beads of sweat, as the horrid roar elicited from somewhere above him. He turned and looked upwards to see a large grey-skinned, hunchback-like creature. It had a twisted up face, and tiny eyes, and it was moving upside down along the grotesque roots in the ceiling. It was headed straight towards them.

Before Sam could react, Cas crammed something into his hand, and at the same time, snatching from him his iron knife. "Go!" the angel screamed at him. Sam hesitated and looked at the object in his hand. It was the vial. The angel shoved Sam back, causing him to almost trip over. The monster had now detached itself from the ceiling and was swinging its massive arms at them, trying to pack a punch with its giant fists.

Cas took a swing and managed to nip it with his blade. It retreated back onto the ceiling with a child-like wail, buying them a bit of time.

"Go!" Cas repeated.

"I can't!" Sam already felt his eyes prickle with the onset of tears.

Cas looked at Sam in the eyes and said "Yes, you can. Go."

Sam took one deep inhale, turned, and ran. A part of him hoping, as he swept through the trees, that the creature was chasing after him, rather than feasting on Dean or Cas.

Finally Sam arrived back at the rock wall, trying not to imagine how many corpses he might have stepped on in the fog. He pocketed the vial before he began scaling the rocks in a hurry.

Once on top of the outcrop, Sam dared a last look behind him. Cas seemed to be holding the creature off well, stabbing it each time it approached him. Sam froze for a moment, various thoughts were rushing through his head. He knew he somehow needed to get to the dryad. But how will he find her? He remembered managing to get her attention last time by stabbing at the sacred tree. _But how am I going to find the tree?_ The last time he'd encountered it, he was in a dream of some sort. So what should he do?

"Dryad!" Sam screamed, between erratic breaths.

He took the sacred vial and presented it out in front of him, hoping that this would summon her to him, and remembering her name, he yelled "Madeina!"

Every noise in this place was carried abnormally far, and the distorted sounds of distant fighting still reached his ears. He had absolutely no clue what else to do, and he was panicking as his friend was now screaming, apparently losing the battle. Then, in a rash decision, Sam opened up the vial, and tossed the contents of it down his throat.

Sam closed his eyes and hoped. His stomach lurched briefly as though he'd just jumped dimensions. All of the discomforting sounds around him were instantly muted. He opened his eyes and was met by the familiar sight and feel of the sacred grove. He quickly noticed he was lying in flowing water and got to his feet. He stepped out of the water and gazed up at the great tree. The mutilations on the bark were gone and so was all the blood.

Sam turned to see the dryad smiling simply at him. The green foliage growing on her appeared healthier than before. _It must have worked_ , Sam thought, _s_ _he must have been reconnected to her source_.

Sam looked around him. The blizzard outside of the bubble he was in had died down, the snow still seeping into the ground. He even heard a muster of crows as they sailed across the sky

He looked to the dryad again, "Help me save my friends!" he pleaded.

But the smiling dryad simply vanished, leaving the request to hang in the air.

...


	3. Earth

Cas landed on his back with a heavy thud. He looked up into the creature's dark, unforgiving eyes. Somewhere along the fight, the creature had managed to bat the weapon out of his hand. It was dropped too far for him to reach. He struggled with his bound ankle again, desperately trying to free himself so he could get to his weapon. But the beast easily overpowered the angel, and leaped on top of him, pinning him into the ground. It emitted a low guttural sound through its foul distorted features. Its lower jaw was mostly skeletal, with barely any skin or muscle at all attached to it. And in place of sharp teeth, it revealed to have several pairs of molars. If this thing subsisted on flesh, then its teeth were certainly unlike any carnivore. They were small and worn-down. And something about them struck a note with Cas. It may have just been fear clouding his perception, but for a moment, its jaws were like some weird semblance of the First Blade.

He didn't have time to dwell upon it though, and he shielded his face, knowing that this monster could still effortlessly crush his skull.

He waited, but nothing happened. So Cas daringly removed his arms to see the beast actually topple off of him. And it moaned again in its several haunting voices, before disintegrating slowly into black crispy charred flakes of skin, almost as though it was being burned alive, but without the presence of any fire.

The last thing to disappear were its jaws, which shattered on the ground, its teeth scattering like marbles. Castiel stared at their fading remains.

He stared for several seconds, getting lost in his thoughts of Dean and First Blade, when the cawing of crows shifted his attention to the ongoings above. Something was different. He could feel it. Even the trees softly exhaled around him, as though finally alleviated of their pain. His mouth opened in a silent gasp as the muscled trees began to slowly contract and grow smaller. Their branches were receding and slipping into the shadows like slugs escaping the sun. They were shifting back into their normal forms. The ever-distant blizzard had died down as well. And by now there was nothing left of the grey creature. The things that had latched onto Cas' ankle were rotting away like leaves before his eyes. Beneath him the earth was soft, and even the smell of the air was purer.

As soon as he could, Cas got to his feet. But instantly, he doubled over at the intense pain in his right side. He presumed the creature had broken some of his ribs. But, still determined, he placed a hand on the afflicted area and limped towards Dean.

The cocoon his friend was in was slower to disappear. There must have been a stronger magic embroiled with it. But as it did finally let Dean go, Cas managed to catch him, and dropped painfully to the ground with him.

"Dean?" Cas shook his friend, concern mixed with pain spreading across his face. Dean stirred and mumbled something unintelligible, his eyes opened just a fraction and met Cas' worried gaze. "Dean?" Cas repeated. Dean's eyes were barely focusing on his. Cas could sense him slipping away.

Without thinking, the angel put his palm to Dean's chest and willed his grace to heal him. Objecting to this, Dean let out a weak grunt of refusal, and tried to bat Cas' hand away. But Castiel ignored his friend's plea and continued on with the healing.

The angel felt a rush of dizziness as his energy was quickly transferred to Dean. He fell short of breath, but it was a success, and Dean's body was healed by the grace.

Dean awoke fully and turned to Cas' broken and bruised body slouching next to him. His friend looked like he was barely keeping it together. The hunter tried to remember what happened, but had no recollection other than slipping in and out of consciousness. And then Cas was holding him and trying to heal him, and then...

"Cas!" Dean exclaimed. "Cas! No! What did you do?!"

Cas knew full well what he'd done. And it was a stupid thing. But in his heart he felt glad he'd made the decision.

He was too weak to respond to Dean with more than a groan.

"You stupid son-of-a-bitch!" Dean cursed, masking his still obvious concern with anger. And he supported his friend's weight before he could slump to the ground.

 _No, this can't be happening_ Dean thought, his skin beginning to prickle with sweat. His nightmares had surfaced, and he realised he could no longer run away. For they weren't just _manifestation_ _s_ , as one might call them, of his fears and insecurities... In this moment, it was the same anguished feelings that were hitting him, enclosing him inside that horrid den of trees, as they tortured and mocked each of his shaky breaths.

Sam's surroundings changed in the blink of an eye. He was no longer near the sacred tree, but standing back on the rocky outcrop, on the spot where he'd drank the water. He had asked the dryad to help him, but he never got a reply. One thing was certain; he was happy to have seen the last of those putrid flesh-covered surroundings. The rotting carcasses were gone too, and so was the fog. It was just a peaceful, tranquil forest now, complete with the sound of birds chirping contentedly.

Dean looked up when he heard footsteps approaching. His heart was filled with a mixture of relief and concern when he was greeted by Sam, who was alive and well. _For now..._

"What happened?" the younger brother asked worriedly, crouching beside them. Cas was still breathing, his head cushioned against Dean's chest.

"Stupid son of a bitch used up all his juice to save me, that's what," Dean muttered. "And I think he's got some broken ribs, but I don't know how..."

"No..." Sam sighed, instantly feeling guilty for leaving them both earlier. He realised Dean might be in need of some explanation. "Cas was fighting a monster," he said reluctantly.

Dean's eyes widened. "What?!"

"He was lucky, considering," Sam added. "But look, we've got to get him out of here," he said.

In agreement, both brothers wrapped Cas' arms around their shoulders, helping him up carefully. Cas made a pained groan at the movement.

"Hey, we got you," Sam tried to reassure him.

"Just hang in there, buddy," Dean added. "We're gonna get you out of here."

Cas only grunted in response, as he attempted to take his own steps. He was making a fair effort, but his feet were still trailing slightly as they carried him between them.

Before the three of them could even get out of the clearing, something in the air shifted. By unknown forces, a figure formed before them, stopping them in their tracks. Suddenly, Hod was there.

The Norse god, with a vicious motion of his wrist, flung Sam into a nearby tree, pinning his back to it. He also did the same with Dean, flinging him into the tree beside it. The scene bared a disturbing semblance to the one from earlier, when Dean and Cas were melded to the same two trees.

"Good aim, for a blind guy," grunted Sam.

Separated from Dean and Sam, Cas simply collapsed onto the ground. The god didn't seem to take any notice of Cas. But perhaps he didn't feel the need to trouble himself with the already injured angel. Either way, he left Cas as he was, lying there, painfully helpless to do anything for his friends.

"The hell?" said Dean, who clearly had no idea what was going on. But after a moment of looking at Hod, his expression changed to recognition. "Wait... I've seen you before..." he began. Hod turned to Dean silently, letting him continue. "Yeah, you're the sick son-of-a-bitch who did all that Alien Resurrection crap to me and Cas."

Hod didn't say a word and merely listened.

"Wait, did you cause all of those possessions and killings too?" Hod said nothing, but his silence was telling. "You did, didn't you?" Dean scoffed. "Well that's just awesome..."

"Let us go!" Sam said, impatiently. They didn't have time for this, they needed to get Cas somewhere safe.

Hod paced towards the struggling younger brother, his dead eyes looking somewhere over his shoulder. "You'll pay for returning the sacred water to its source," he said, his calm voice sending chills up Sam's spine.

"Don't you dare hurt my brother!" Dean roared, struggling against the magic that was binding him.

Hod once again ignored Dean, and raised his hand before Sam, making a twisting motion with his fingers. Sam felt his windpipe instantly constrict, causing him to struggle for air.

Dean roared even louder, "You son of a bitch! I will kill you!"

Hod laughed quietly under his breath. "And how will you do that?" he mocked, his head turned in Dean's direction.

Sam struggled his words out, barely able to breathe. "Listen, I-I I know what you did!" he managed. This won him Hod's attention, and the god allowed him to breathe again, somehow wanting to hear what he had to say.

After gasping in lungfuls of air, Sam managed to continue, "Tell me how you tricked those innocent people into being possessed. I'm guessing it was some sort of a deal?"

Hod sighed. "Well, that's a pretty good guess," the blind god said. "All right, I'll let you in on something..." Hod stepped toward Sam until he was uncomfortably close. "You see, the first of my... victims... Monty... was a born-again Christian. But he carried so much guilt around inside him, that he wanted nothing more than to wash away the sins of his past. So I directed him to the sacred water, which could do just that."

"In return for having a dryad use his body to kill people?" Sam spat.

Hod laughed at Sam's deduction. "Oh that part wasn't up to him. Or the dryad." Hod kept pacing slowly around the tree Sam was bound to, keeping his palm to it. He kept tracing his palm over Sam's chest as he did this, which was just plain weird and creepy. "Interesting outcome that he was killed by his neighbour though, right? Who would've guessed?" he added.

Sam craned his neck as far as he could as Hod went around the tree, trying not to let the untrustworthy figure out of his sight.

Dean intervened this time. "So the little girl too? What did she even do to deserve being possessed?"

"Well she didn't do anything, technically," Hod shrugged. "See, certain dryads can't possess a dead meat suit. And Madeina just so happens to be one of them. So when Monty was murdered, the dryad needed a new vessel. And so, probably, for convenience more than anything, the dryad chose the daughter."

He paused for a moment, regarding Sam with those unknown senses. "I didn't wish to kill you myself..." he continued. "You were meant to become a sacrifice to this forest, making it more powerful, just like your brother here, before you ruined my plans."

"But you can't sacrifice us, can you?" Sam said. "Because you don't have enough power over this place yourself, that's why you stole some of the sacred water. And you used it to turn crows into harpies. But without harpies, how can you take people?"

"Enough!" Said Hod, raising his voice for the first time since they'd heard him speak. "I stole the sacred water before, and I can do it again!"

Hod's words were punctuated by a sudden cold chill which swept through the trees. The god turned about himself, stepping out to the centre of the clearing, as though unsettled. But then he smirked and huffed out a laugh. "Don't like the sound of that, do you?" he said, scornfully. The sky seemed to respond by casting grey clouds above the clearing. Consequently, the air around them cooled. "I don't fear you," Hod sneered. "You can't willingly kill another living being."

"No, but I can!"

Cas was suddenly on his feet behind Hod, and stabbed him in the back with a twisted, wooden staff of some sort. The sharp end had pierced straight though him.

Hod looked wide-eyed down at the point protruding from his stomach. "Wh- Where did you get that?" he rasped.

"From the sacred tree," the angel replied.

The dying god fell to his knees, gurgling on his own blood, before collapsing to the ground.

Immediately after Hod was dead, Sam and Dean were released from the trees and stumbled to their feet. Hod's body vanished before their eyes.

Cas was wavering slightly, and the brothers rushed to his side and supported him. But he shrugged them off, gesturing that he was okay.

Following Hod's disappearance, the sky was restored to blue and the breeze settled. This shift was accompanied by the sound of birds singing in peace.

"So, you were there too?" Sam asked Cas, referring to the sacred tree.

"Yes," Castiel replied, slightly dazed. "I just... woke up there." Sam nodded in understanding. Cas had visited the tree in a dream, just as he had. "The dryad, Madeina..." Castiel continued, "...She gave me a branch from the tree, telling me to stop Hodur."

"Well, good on you, Cas!" Dean slapped Cas on the back, grinning.

"Thank you," the angel said, bluntly.

"But are you okay?" Sam asked Cas. The angel obviously seemed to have regained much of his strength.

"Yes, my injuries appear to have healed," Castiel reassured. "And I think that visiting the sacred source helped in the matter as well."

"That would make sense," said Sam, remembering how earlier, his arm had been healed as well.

The angel didn't mention whether any of his grace had been restored too, but the mere fact that he was alive was good enough news for now.

"And Dean..." Sam turned to his brother, "...The next time you even think about leaving our asses again..."

"I know..." the older brother butted in. "You'll find me."

Sam sighed. "Just, next time... be there for us, man." His eyes glued themselves wide and imploringly onto Dean's.

Feeling put on the spot, Dean was forced to comply. "Okay," he huffed.

"And I also know why you've been acting so weird..." Sam finally said. Dean didn't like it how Sam was digging at him. "It's because of The Mark, am I right?"

Dean looked at Sam, his face unreadable.

"Just, please..." Sam said, "Just, promise me that from now on, we're in this together."

Dean took a deep breath. "Okay," he repeated as before. Sam seemed satisfied with the response though, and the three of them finally set foot out of the clearing.

"Let's just go back to the cabin and get our things," Dean said. "This place gives me the creeps."

"Yeah, I'm with you there," replied his brother.

"As am I," added Cas.

…..

The End.

A/N: Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)


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